Continuity mistake: When Melinda Dillon breaks the lamp, it is broken into many pieces, but when Darren McGavin is gluing it back together it is now in much fewer and bigger broken pieces. Obviously different broken lamps were used.
A Christmas Story (1983)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Bob Clark
Starring: Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon, Peter Billingsley, Scott Schwartz
On Christmas morning Ralphie and his family gather around the tree to open presents. Throughout the movie, Ralphie has been fixated on the idea of receiving the Red Ryder BB gun as his ultimate Christmas gift, despite warnings from adults that he would shoot his eye out.
As Ralphie opens his presents, he receives various gifts from his family. However, there is no sign of the Red Ryder BB gun. Disappointed, he thinks that his dream gift has been overlooked. Just when Ralphie believes that all hope is lost, his father directs him to one more present hidden behind the desk. Ralphie excitedly unwraps it and, to his delight, finds the Red Ryder BB gun. Overjoyed, he exclaims, "I got it! I got it!"
The movie ends with Ralphie taking his prized possession outside to try it out. As he shoots at a target, he accidentally hits himself with the ricocheting BB, but fortunately, he is not seriously injured.
More mistakes in A Christmas Story
More quotes from A Christmas Story
Trivia: The film is set in Indiana, but was actually filmed in Cleveland, Ohio. It was the only place the directors could find that looked like a midwestern town in the 1940's.
Question: Why do the parents have two twin beds in their bedroom, instead of one double bed? I thought that was just a TV gimmick from the old days when they weren't allowed to show a man and woman in bed together. Did people really sleep like that, or was it just a production design decision for the film? The movie was made in the '80's after all.
Chosen answer: Many married couples did (and still do) sleep like this. For example, one may be a restless sleeper and not wish to disturb their partner. Or they may just prefer to sleep alone. It's all down to personal choice, I don't think there's a rule that says couples have to share a bed.
The original poster has never been married. It is seldom that husbands and wives continue sleeping in the same bed after the first couple years of marriage.
Very interesting... I know of only one couple that sleeps in different beds. That is because they are on different sleep schedules. I know many couples and we all sleep with our spouses. Don't get me wrong, if we get a hotel room that has 2 full or queen beds, we are sleeping in individual beds. But other then that, we sleep in our bed together.
"Seldom" is a bit of an overstatement - studies seem to suggest about 15-25% of couples sleep separately.
Studies? Could you provide a link to such studies? I speak from decades of knowing many, many happily-married couples, the overwhelming majority of whom sleep in separate beds and even separate rooms.
15 per cent of Britons said if cost and space were not an issue, they would sleep in a different bed to their partner: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/uk-couples-sleep-separate-beds-partner-yougov-survey-a8504716.html. A 2005 National Sleep Foundation poll found that nearly one in four American couples sleeps in separate beds or separate rooms: https://sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/subscription/sub003.txt. Clearly many couples do, but many don't. Certainly the vast majority of couples I know share a bed, regardless of how long they've been together. "Seldom" is I think overstating it. The majority of people you know may sleep separately, and more power to them! No right or wrong, but that doesn't appear to reflect the broader picture.
Answer: Very common, especially back in the first half of the 20th century, for couples to sleep in separate beds.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: It's most likely a reference to the twin-bed movie standards from the time in which the movie takes place (late '30s to early '40s).